C.J. Mosley or Ryan Shazier? Who’s the best safety fit? What about center, tight end?

There is no shortage of draftniks in 2014. One who’s certainly worth your time is Corey Chavous. The 11-year NFL pro — who spent four of those years defending Brett Favre with the Minnesota Vikings — now watches film for "Draft Nasty." After talking draft and Packers recently, here are a few highlights.

Chavous believes Kyle Van Noy is the best linebacker in the draft — and a fit for Green Bay. He sees center Weston Richburg as a realistic option. And at safety, he knows of a few prospects who could be perfect fits in Green Bay’s scheme.

--- Of the consensus top two 3-4 inside linebacker prospects — Alabama’s Mosley and Ohio State’s Shazier — Chavous prefers Shazier. He’s not quite sold on the prospect. Chavous sees flaws. Comparing him to St. Louis’ Alec Ogletree, Chavous sees a “run-and-chase guy who might need to be covered up.”

Last year at Ohio State, Shazier had 144 tackles (23.5 for loss) with seven sacks.

“With Shazier, he needs some work on being a top-level instinct guy,” Chavous said. “He moved around a lot at Ohio State. His key and diagnose could get a little bit better against misdirection. For me, what stands out is the fact that he is a jack of all trades. I do think that he needs to fill out a little bit more. He weighed in at 236. But I thought he was somebody who could add more lead below the belt buckle. He was a wide receiver-like, strong safety-like lower body.

“But overall, his ability to chase things down — his short-area burst as a blitzer in the A and B gaps, those things along with his ability to cover tight ends, those things are positives.”

In short, Mosley is a player who can operate a defense. He diagnosed plays a tick quicker. Shazier is potentially a player who wreaks more havoc in that defense.

“(Mosley) has an instinctive reactionary ability,” Chavous said. “He understands the defense, calls the audibles and I didn’t think he was as naturally explosive as Shazier. I think there’s an adjustment period with that. The good thing about Mosley is his upper-body strength. He does have long arms — 33 3/8-inch arms. He had big hands — 10 ¾-inch hands. He’s a player who can physically grow and get bigger. But his best football’s down the road.

“I think he’s more of a poor man’s Luke Kuechly-type because he’ll get to most places but a lot of times his angles have to be re-adjusted on the inside-out pursuit as opposed to Shazier.”

--- Mosley and Shazier may be the first-round options. But if Green Bay waits to add a linebacker, BYU’s Kyle Van Noy could be an ideal fit.

Even though Van Noy played outside linebacker in BYU’s defense, Chavous sees a player who can slide inside. In four seasons, Van Noy totaled 61.5 tackles for loss, 26 sacks, seven interceptions, 11 forced fumbles and five touchdowns. The Packers are seeking players who can handle multiple tasks on defense. Possibly going with Van Noy in the second or third round is the better move.

“Neither one of those guys would be as good of a fit as a Kyle Van Noy for their scheme and how they play,” Chavous said. “Van Noy is a guy who has top-level instincts. He might not jump off the meter when you start testing and putting up numbers. But I just believe that even though he has shorter arms — he’s not going to be a true edge rusher — I think he can play inside.

“Some people look at him as a 4-3 Sam, not an inside linebacker. But I think he can play inside or outside and I think he’s the best linebacker in the draft.”

Chavous adds that both Shazier and Mosley probably have more speed. Van Noy, however, has “better football instincts” than both to him.

Van Noy often took on fullbacks and spilled the action to his help inside, playing bigger than his size. The former NFL corner is surprised more teams aren’t eyeing Van Noy as an inside linebacker because of this. The 6-foot-3, 243-pounder moves well laterally. Even though there's not a lot of tape of Van Noy shedding guards, Chavous believes he does have experience locking horns with bigger bodies overall.

“And that’s the reason I feel there’s a projection there,” he said. “He’s been rushing on the edge and going against tackles and going against a pull when they’re pulling a backside guard and you have to spill the action to your help.

“BYU’s defense was clearly one of the top defenses in the country the last two years. Their diversified schemes asked him to do a lot. “

The reason Van Noy is a fit is the complexity of that defense. BYU gets sacks “through scheme,” Chavous continued. Playing opposite Ziggy Ansah in 2012, he had 13 sacks. Both BYU and Green Bay rely on zone concepts.

“They may have two guys rushing off the edge and then they may have two guys with their hand in the ground dropping out into the curl flat zone," Chavous said. "And then they’ll have a nickel guy drop all the way back to safety. A lot of stuff you’ll see Green Bay do sometimes in their zone blitz. They did a lot of different stuff on third down and that opened up a lot of 1-on-1’s for both him and Ziggy Ansah. He took advantage of them because they’d get him isolated.”

In the Packers Podcast posted over the weekend with NBC’s Dan Koob, we discussed the center position. Green Bay may roll with JC Tretter in Year 2 or take a center early such as Richburg or USC’s Marcus Martin. Chavous is a fan of Richburg. Beyond the final score, Chavous saw many promising signs in Colorado State's 31-6 loss to Alabama last fall. Richburg started 50 straight games in college.

“Mobility. That’s the No. 1 about him,” Chavous said. “One of the things he really has is quickness off the snap. …Now, you talk about discipline. The guy didn’t have a penalty in 2012. He has excellent snap-and-step quickness. He does a good job of engaging the 1-technique on direct runs. I thought he played very well vs. Alabama. You want to see him against that top-level competition. And I thought he played very well in that game. He reminded me of Ryan Kalil. Maybe not quite as good an athlete but when you watched him on tape, that’s how he moved around.

“He was very balanced on that second level, trap schemes. One of the things he also shows is he can get out on screens. He has some mobility down the field.

“In that Alabama game — three knockdown blocks in the first half — a couple of them 10-15 yards down the field. And he’s a player who really handled himself at the Senior Bowl. He had some tough match-ups down there and he competed well in the 1-on-1 match-ups. And I think he caught some peoples’ attention.”

--- In our Packer Plus mock draft, we went with Louisville safety Calvin Pryor. Chavous believes Pryor is the No. 1 safety in the draft. And while the defense could use Pryor’s violence and playmaking, there’s also several tall, dangerous wide receivers in the division.

Whoever the Packers add at safety, Chavous says, Calvin Johnson, Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall should be on their mind.

“At some point, you’re going to play some Cover 2,” Chavous said. “They’re going to get on your back level and it’s going to be the safety 1 on 1 with those guys, just like the corners are. You can’t play three deep in man coverage the entire game or even quarters coverage. Teams will find a way to isolate those guys. For me, probably the guy with the best size to match up would be a (Ha Ha) Clinton-Dix or a Deone Bucannon.

“Size-wise. 207. To me, if you’re going to match up with Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall, it’s going to be Morgan Burnett. Did he play up to the level you wanted him to after you gave him a contract? That’s the question you have to ask yourself. I think he had a lot of talent. He has never really developed quite like they had hoped. I still think he’s a starter. He could come back and have a good season. But who do you pair with him?”

The best cover safety in the draft to him is Northern Illinois’ Jimmie Ward. Chavous groups safeties and nickel cornerbacks together because safeties need to cover in today’s game.

If it’s a big safety the Packers are coveting, he points to Bucannon and late-round option, Jonathan Dowling of Western Kentucky, as two possibilities.

--- Green Bay, he adds, tends to prefer the hybrid defensive back — a cornerback who can play nickel.

And one player who fits the Packers’ defense, of anyone in the draft, is N.C. State’s Dontae Johnson, Chavous said.

“I’m resigned to ‘how does he fit into your division?’ because I truly believe this, when Green Bay goes to the draft,” Chavous said, “they’re not looking at all these guys we’re talking about. They might not even have Jimmie Ward on their board. They’re looking for the guys who fit their scheme. I would not be surprised in a Dontae Johnson. He might not be rated high for them but that might be a guy they’re targeting in the mid-rounds. He’s 6-2, 200, but he’s got 4.4 speed, he’s got a 38 ½-inch vertical and a 10-4 broad.

“So athletically — even though it didn’t always show up on the field consistently — this is a guy that can make some plays.”

Last season, Johnson started five games at cornerback and seven at free safety. He had 81 tackles and three interceptions.

“Out of all the guys, him and Dezmen Southward out of Wisconsin, Antone Exum out of Virginia Tech, there’s a lot of depth in this class. Safeties/nickel backs. In today’s NFL, what you really want to have is a safety/nickel back because you can’t go into a game in today’s NFL and say ‘we’re going to have an in-the-box guy on 1st and 2nd down.’ Just like they do in Green Bay, Jermichael Finley is a wide receiver. Now you have to change up everything you’re doing and you don’t have time to substitute nickel because you’re already in your base package. You better have somebody who can handle multiple roles.”

About Tyler Dunne

Tyler Dunne covers the Green Bay Packers. He has been on the beat since 2011, winning awards with the Pro Football Writers of America and Milwaukee Press Club.